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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23436613">beneath our feet</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wearethewitches/pseuds/wearethewitches'>wearethewitches</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>sixty-seven thousand miles an hour | the doctor is not a monk [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Being Lost, Children, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Light Angst, Protective Siblings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:54:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,084</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23436613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wearethewitches/pseuds/wearethewitches</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>One of the kids gets lost in a jungle gym.</p><p> </p><p>or, some light angst and family fluff/feels.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Original Character(s) &amp; Original Character(s), Thirteenth Doctor &amp; Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>sixty-seven thousand miles an hour | the doctor is not a monk [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652698</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>beneath our feet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The <em>Jungle Gym</em> is inside a dimly lit warehouse. To Fumiko, this was originally a fun concept, allowing her to run around a safe, stable environment with her siblings, all of the screaming indicative of other kids having fun, rather than because they’re hurt or in pain. From outside she could see the slides, the multicoloured padded stairs and foam cannons.</p><p>What she didn’t see was the convoluted <em>maze</em> it was.</p><p>Confused and stuck in the highest level, inside a plastic rocket ship, Fumiko curls up in a see-through bubble, looking out on the rest of the warehouse; Mum is off in the far end of the room, bowling with Aunt Yasmin and Granddad, Uncle Ryan keeping score while sipping at a fizzy drink. Briefly, she sees Holly and Josefa coming back from the bathroom, which confuses her – to Humans, they look different genders. They shouldn’t be coming out of the same bathroom.</p><p>A vibration shudders through the rocket and Fumiko squeaks, looking around wildly. She catches sight of Aday’s head before she disappears from sight, in a parallel netted corridor going down. Fumiko struggles to catch her breath, wondering if she could reach out to someone for help. It wouldn’t be very loud and if anyone <em>did</em> hear her telepathic plea, she’d probably ruin the outing for everyone else.</p><p><em>No,</em> she thinks, clutching at her knees tightly. <em>I’ll stay here until Mum says it’s time to go. Someone can find me then.</em></p><p>But Fumiko feels so alone and lost. It’s dusty and there’s an unfamiliar handprint smudged onto the plastic she sits against. Fumiko doesn’t belong here. Her brain leaks that emotion, no matter how hard she tries to keep it from spilling; and then Ryoko is there, head popping up from the triangle-shaped stairs, blinking rapidly.</p><p>“Mi-ki, are you okay?” Ryoko asks her, blending in with her scarlet surroundings. Unlike her Vinvocci sister, Ryoko looks to be enjoying herself, black spines sweating in her excitement.</p><p>Fumiko lets out a gust of breath, scrambling across the coloured squares to her sister. “No. I want to go.”</p><p>Ryoko takes her hand tightly, a determined expression appearing. “Okay. Let’s go out. We will sit with Uncle Ryan. Kera is at the slide, if you want to go see her, instead.”</p><p>“I don’t know how to get back,” admits Fumiko, squeezing back, “I’m lost!”</p><p>“Well, I’m not!” Her smaller, crimson counterpart tugs her down and Fumiko follows her through the maze, down the stairs and across, to a yellow slide leading into the ball-pit. It shocks her how short the journey is to the outside, socked feet padding down the ramp into the bowling area.</p><p>“Shoes on,” reminds one of the Jungle Gym staff, eyeing up Ryoko with concern – probably because to them, she looks a bit like a Human with dwarfism, with the perception filter. “Everything alright?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Ryoko replies, picking out Fumiko’s shoes from a pile of twenty-five individual pairs. “My sister just got a bit scared. She was up really high!”</p><p>“Uh-huh,” nods Fumiko, biting her lip and ducking her chin. She still catches the surprise on the Human woman’s face. Letting go of Ryoko’s hand to get her shoes back on, Fumiko hurries over to where her family are bowling, Ryoko at her heels the entire time; Fumiko made the horrible decision to learn how to tie bows for her shoes last month, so it takes her longer than Ryoko with her Velcro straps.</p><p>Her Mum, unsurprisingly, is the first one to catch sight of them, super parent-instincts – and a helpful psychic bond – giving her an instinctual know-how to their whereabouts. Blonde hair whipping across her cheek, the Doctor immediately brings Fumiko up into a hug, frowning deeply. Fumiko breaths out deeply again, wrapping her arms around her mother tightly as she feels the tension in her drain away, pale green spines curling up in comfort against her skin.</p><p>“What’s going on in your head, hmm?” Her mother murmurs, pressing a kiss to her head, brushing her ear.</p><p>Ryoko explains. “She got lost. It <em>is</em> kind of strange, in there!”</p><p>“Can I sit with you?” Fumiko mumbles against her neck, the Doctor nodding immediately in acquiescence. She carries Fumiko to her seat, settling her on her lap as her aunt looks over in concern.</p><p>“Are you okay, Fumiko? Is she alright?”</p><p>“Just a bit melancholy, Yaz. She’ll be right as rain,” says Mum, Fumiko bonelessly slumping against her. Part of Fumiko wants to go back inside and play – they won’t get to go again very soon, trips like this are special and they have the whole of time and space to play with – but another, still-melancholy part of her, wants to stay right here in her mother’s lap.</p><p>“It’s your turn, Doc.” Granddad pronounces upon returning to their area, grinning pompously. “I’ve got this in the bag!”</p><p>Her mother declines, grasp on Fumiko settling. “Someone else take my turn.”</p><p>“I’m up for that. Bagsy!” Uncle Ryan exclaims, her granddad groaning at his quick words, clearly having wanted another shot at going, despite it not being his go. Fumiko watches as Ryan gets up, grabbing one of the lighter balls as Ryoko steals his seat, watching them bicker happily.</p><p>Aunt Yaz leans back a little, meeting Fumiko’s eyes, asking quietly, “You sure you’re alright, Fumiko?”</p><p>Fumiko nods. She’s happy in her mother’s arms, appreciating her embrace. Aunt Yasmin smiles at her, the skin by her eyes crinkling and Fumiko can’t help but smile back, feeling her mother press another kiss to her head.</p><p>“Oh my days. I got a strike! What the hell?”</p><p>“No, no, Ryan – you can’t give the Doctor a <em>strike, </em>I’ll lose the game if I don’t get one the next round!”</p><p>“Granddad, I got a <em>strike.</em>”</p><p>“I know, Ryan and well done for that, I’m just a bit upset you didn’t get it on your own go!”</p><p>“Too bad. I’m putting that on Facebook, I am-”</p><p>In the back of her mind, Fumiko hears her mother ask, so quiet and unsure… <em>Are you sure everything’s okay, little one?</em></p><p>Fumiko grasps onto that feeling tight. It doesn’t come often, not when her species – and not Ryoko’s either, for that matter – don’t have a natural aptitude for telepathy. She tries her hardest, using feelings as much as words.</p><p>Positivity. Contentment. Feelings.</p><p>
  <em>Yes. I’ll be okay. I love you.</em>
</p><p>And just like the arms around her, the feeling of an embrace envelopes her; full of love and comfort.</p><p>
  <em>I love you, too.</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>prompt: holding hands</p><p>i accept any and all prompts/requests for this 'verse! either comment or leave an ask in my <a href="https://wearethewitches.tumblr.com/ask"> tumblr inbox</a> and i'll put it in here somewhere!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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